Philly’s Finest Sambonis

A not very creative variation on a staple. The steak is surrounded by bread.
I’m a big preacher of ‘its all about the bread’, but this bread doesn’t do it for me. The steak is good, but I’m not writing home about it.
If you want a ‘creative’ take on a cheesesteak, try Donkey’s Place in Camden. Still not creative, but a better not-​typical steak.

Went to cheese steak fest and got a cheesesteak here. They double charged us (tickets wise) and to be honest it was just alright. I had better cheesesteaks throughout the day. If I had to rate just the cheesesteak I’d give it a three out of five, but the fact they insisted that we had to give them two tickets (when the whole festival was one ticket per sample) was what really left a bad taste in my mouth.

My first Philly cheesesteak, and I was not disappointed. Sandwich was $ 9 and there were pickles and hot peppers to help yourself to. Guys were friendly and hooked me up with extra cheese. I’m sure most people love cheesesteaks for the steak, which this sandwich is stuffed to the max with, but I actually would have liked more onion in mine. I’m sure if they’re not busy, the guys will accommodate requests like that. Wait time not bad either. I was there Thursday around 1pm and got my order within 10 – 15 mins.

How is it possible that Philly’s Finest Sambonis does not already have a Unilocal listing or any ratings? Between national recognition from Food Network’s Great Food Truck Race Season 4 and just being named the 2015 Best Cheesesteak by Best of Philly, this truck is kind of a big deal.
A food truck serving cheesesteaks is not uncommon by any means, especially in Philadelphia. What makes Philly’s Finest Sambonis different is the hollowed out bread. The fillings are stuffed on the inside of the bread, kind of like a Hot Pocket on steroids. I make the comparison to provide a visual, because this thing knocks Hot Pockets (and most cheesesteaks) out of the water.
The rolls are from Liscio’s and are gutted in real time. I had the pleasure of trying this coveted cheesesteak at a catered event, and saw that each of the three options available were also cooked in real time. This obviously caused a line, but it was worth the wait to be served food fresh off the grill.
Back to the cheesesteak, since the fillings were encompassed in the bread, it was easy to pick and eat it without making a mess. With the exception of the end of the roll, each bite had a nice distribution of steak, cheese and fried onion. The steak was finely chopped and fused perfectly with the melted cheese and scattering of onions. The meat was quality in and of itself.
My only beef with the sandwich was that there was no option to add peppers directly into sub when ordering. This might be a catering thing though, and they did have a jars of peppers available to add your own pickles and peppers. I just found it a little difficult to keep shoving the peppers into my sandwich, and would have liked for them to be mixed throughout with the fried onions. Likewise with sauces, you could either struggle to fit ketchup or Sriracha into the meat hole, drizzle it on top of the bun or dip it. I opted to dip my sandwich into a little Sriracha on the side, which made for easy and tasty eating.
I can’t forget to mention the BAE fries. Imagine perfect cooked crinkle fries topped with Old Bay seasoning. Did I mention that they were perfectly cooked? Not too crispy, not too mushy. Mmmm, fabulous.
It doesn’t look like they have a schedule on their social media pages, but I’m determined to find one. According to previous articles about them, they can be found at Philadelphia Community College in the Northeast and at the Porch by 30^th Street Station.
Get excited, Philadelphia. There’s a new cheesesteak player in the game and this one’s a winner.